Constitution enables, it doesn’t disable

Published: Monday, January 6, 2014 at 01:26 PM.

My habit has been to ignore columnist Walter Williams because he is so predictably ultra-conservative on any issue that I wonder how he could have achieved a position of teaching young minds how to reason.

I did read his Jan. 3 column, however, breaking my own vow, just to reaffirm my belief that his views remain consistent — and not founded in reality.

The Williams shtick is to profess belief in what he thinks our Constitution says on any issue and to disavow anything he believes deviates from his interpretation. That our judicial system, empowered with deciding this matter, disagrees with his views bothers him not one bit.

He bases most of his reasoning on Article 1, Section 8, which lists activities for which Congress is authorized to tax and spend. “Nowhere,” Williams writes, “is there authority for Congress to tax and spend for Medicare, Social Security, public education, farm subsidies, bank and business bailouts, food stamps and thousands of other activities….”

That the courts have (rightfully) determined that the Article’s authorization for the federal government to promote the “general welfare” enables such diverse programs does not deter Williams from his rigid views. His final sentence sums up his interpretation of history: “My personal preference is a restoration of the constitutional values of limited government that made us a great nation.”

No, professor, what has made us a great nation has been a Constitution that, with the will of the people speaking through their judicial system, has enabled our government to provide those services that are required for a successful civil society.

My habit has been to ignore columnist Walter Williams because he is so predictably ultra-conservative on any issue that I wonder how he could have achieved a position of teaching young minds how to reason.

I did read his Jan. 3 column, however, breaking my own vow, just to reaffirm my belief that his views remain consistent — and not founded in reality.

The Williams shtick is to profess belief in what he thinks our Constitution says on any issue and to disavow anything he believes deviates from his interpretation. That our judicial system, empowered with deciding this matter, disagrees with his views bothers him not one bit.

He bases most of his reasoning on Article 1, Section 8, which lists activities for which Congress is authorized to tax and spend. “Nowhere,” Williams writes, “is there authority for Congress to tax and spend for Medicare, Social Security, public education, farm subsidies, bank and business bailouts, food stamps and thousands of other activities….”

That the courts have (rightfully) determined that the Article’s authorization for the federal government to promote the “general welfare” enables such diverse programs does not deter Williams from his rigid views. His final sentence sums up his interpretation of history: “My personal preference is a restoration of the constitutional values of limited government that made us a great nation.”

No, professor, what has made us a great nation has been a Constitution that, with the will of the people speaking through their judicial system, has enabled our government to provide those services that are required for a successful civil society.